


Lifeline

by AifasInTheSky



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Delirium, Fever Dreams, Injury, Near Death Experiences, Stranded in the desert, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 02:06:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14226756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AifasInTheSky/pseuds/AifasInTheSky
Summary: The last thing he remembers is the feeling of a pair of hands grabbing him from under his arms and the dragging of his feet across the sand.





	Lifeline

He hates the sun.

He doesn’t really have a good reason for it - not that he needs one. It simply is there, glaring down at everyone and everything.

It knows too much.

He groans. The cocky bastard is unforgiving on his sore head. Its rays pierce his eyes and right through his skull, sending jolts of pain to his brain. It’s too bright, and he tries to cover his eyes with his hand but his arm feels weird, numb, too heavy to lift.

It doesn’t upset him too much - it’s nothing new, he’s used by now to losing the feeling on his hand. Besides, it’s too difficult to focus on anything at the moment.

He sees red. Everywhere.

There’s red in front of him, next to him, over him. Surrounding him, swallowing him up and usually he isn’t one to be frightened by those damn communists but if they found a way to make him only see red for the rest of his life then he thinks he’s got the right to be at least somewhat upset. He feels mostly angry though. He wants to punch his way out of the red; if only he could raise his traitor arm‒

“… olly.”

His head is pounding. He turns it away, away from the heat and the bright red and the sharp pain. Stupid commies - he’s been through worse than this, nothing can break his pride, his will to live. Nothing.

“Solly!”

The red darkens. He feels a bit better - then a hand is touching him and he starts, tries to get away from it.

“Easy, buddy,” the voice says. It instantly makes him stop squirming. He trusts it.

The hand returns and rests gently on his forehead.

“Darn‒hang on there, buddy, we need to move ya-”

He’s too tired. The last thing he remembers is the feeling of a pair of hands grabbing him from under his arms and the dragging of his feet across the sand.

\-----

He’s in a world of pain. His head twirls, his limbs ache and his stomach curls into itself. He wants to barf so badly and at the same time he doesn’t want to move. Ever.

“… is darn heavy, why couldn’t the big guy come with us, dagnabbit…”

He wants to yell for the voice to stop, for the piercing, resonant sound of metal clashing against metal to _shut the hell up_ -

But it’s too much for him. He starts coughing.

“Solly!”

The hands grab him from his back and flip him on his side. He hurls and heaves, and finally vomits all the contents of his stomach. It hurts. It hurts so much.

“It’s okay, pardner, it’s okay. Just don’t fight it; try to breathe, alright? In… out…”

Soldier obeys. Soldier takes a breath, two, coughs again; one, two, three… four… five…

He feels better. The sudden calm in his mind knocks him out cold.

\-----

The cloudy sky soothes him. He feels almost safe; but not quite. Something is odd.

Something is wrong.

Heavy footsteps on the metal floor of the base. Almost like stomps. One, two, three; one two, three.

Heavy is pushing a giant box, dragging it over the dusty ground outside. His grunts sound strange. Like they belong to someone else.

“Heavy!”

Heavy keeps pushing, pushing, pushing, until the box reaches the border and falls, falls towards the water but never reaches it, until it does, and sinks into it with the muted sound of shifting sand.

“Good job,” he says to Heavy, because he did it, whatever it is he has done, and it is important.

Someone chuckles.

He turns around. Engineer is looking at him from afar, goggles off, his eyes crinkled with laughter and a lopsided smile on his face.

“Hey, Engie!”

Engineer just stands there, in the middle of their control point, arms crossed.

“What’s up, pardner?”

He wants to reach him. He wants to get there and tell him that Heavy did it, that they are safe now, because the bomb is gone and the sun is hidden and everything is going to be alright. But he gives a step, two, and Engineer doesn’t get closer. He starts to run, run towards him, but Engineer is there, and even farther; he’s getting farther and farther away with each step he takes.

“Engineer! Engineer!”

The clouds split apart and the sun glares brightly over the point, over Engineer, making him shine beautifully, frighteningly, too bright to look at. He’s swallowed by light, consumed by it, and he just _knows_ that, if he were able to get any closer to him, he would only find his ashes.

“ _DELL!_ ”

\-----

“ _DELL!_ ”

He opens his eyes, sitting up straight. Pain courses through his right arm and he gasps, makes to grasp it but his left one doesn’t answer him. He growls, more than annoyed. He’s sweating. His neck hurts. Everything tilts to one side, but at least his stomach doesn’t betray him anymore.

He has to find him.

He tries to get up but he only manages to fall on his face. He spits sand and rolls over his useless arm to twist around and try again. He only sees walls. A metal wall rising at his side, and another one at his left, both joining in the middle. He looks up. There’s a big wooden crate in front of him, covering one of the ways. He throws his head back. There’s a smaller one blocking part of the other.

The sun’s setting, it looks like.

His helmet’s missing.

He’s alone.

He stops struggling for a moment and tries to remember. He was going somewhere - it was important; something about… weapons, and a plane, but… he couldn’t be driving, he’s never allowed to drive any kind of vehicle, not since the classified incident - unrelated, unimportant - so who…

Someone moves the small crate. He slowly sits up and watches Engineer crawl hurriedly into the structure.

“Jane!”

He remembers his desperation - he had needed to say something, hadn’t he? But his throat closes and he starts coughing, choked. Engineer holds him up by his torso, patting his back. “Easy, Soldier Boy; easy.”

“W-what happened?” he croaks, getting frustrated with his arms and their lack of cooperation - he can’t even cover his mouth, dammit.

Engineer tightens his grip minutely.

“Don’t ya remember?”

Remember what? Thinking is difficult right now.

“Assesment of the situation?” he orders instead, straightening himself the best he can.

Engineer starts running his hand distractedly over his back. “The plane’s gone. Blown to bits. It fell close to us; luckily it didn’t land _on_ us. I moved some parts of it and put this thing together; this’ll give us cover for a while.” He pauses.

“How d’ya feel, pardner?”

His head is starting to hurt again. If he moves too abruptly, everything spins.

“Permission to be honest, sir?” he asks, and he thinks Engie nods. “I feel awful.”

And he closes his eyes, and goes limp in Engineer’s arms.

\-----

There is a boat.

There is a boat in the sand and it’s okay. Engineer is there.

He is there too.

“Ain’t it nice, Solly?” Engineer asks. The boat is swayed by the waves, the desert lapping at its sides.

“Yes,” he says, because it is. The sun is up, but he doesn’t care, because he is with Engie, and together they can face anything.

“When I was a lil’ boy, ya know,” Engineer starts; Soldier feels something cool on his forehead, soothing, relieving. “I got a nasty fever. Of the darnedest kind. Mum thought I wouldn’t make it through. Dad said I was a Conagher man, a simple cold wouldn’t take me down.”

Engineer’s voice soothes him.

“Mum later told me I didn’t know who they were. That I fought them tooth and nail. The doctor could only treat me when I was knocked out, and even then it was a struggle, ‘cuz I tossed and turned in my sleep.

“But then Grandpa came to visit. He had heard of my state and came to see me. Perhaps he thought it could be the last time.” Engineer chuckles, sadly.

Soldier wants to say something, make it all better. But he also doesn’t want him to stop.

“And to everyone’s surprise, I responded to him. Mum had been trying to calm me when he arrived, and he just walked up to the bed, put a hand on my shoulder and said: ‘Easy, boy. No one’s gonna harm ya.’ And I stopped struggling.”

There is quiet once more. An eagle passes by, drawing circles in the air over them before leaving.

“I think…” Engineer sounds pensive. “I think there’s something there, right? Like a gut instinct, or something, that makes us trust some people even in those moments when we can’t even trust our own senses.”

He agrees.

He looks at Engineer’s smirk, directed at the sand at his side.

He is glad he is not alone.

Engineer leans to one side and sinks his hand into the desert. He moves it lazily, sliding through it, feeling it. He can feel it too, as if Engineer’s fingers were his, grains of sand sliding across his palm, between his fingers.

Suddenly, a sharp pain assaults his hand, his whole arm. Engineer withdraws his own hand, grabbing it in pain. There’s a snake clung to it, fangs buried in its back, piercing, poisonous. Its venom courses through Engineer’s - his - arm, pulsing, hurting like a thousand needles inside his body, and he curses, and Engineer curses, and he tries to grab his arm but his other arm won’t move and-

He feels a pair of hands flipping him over, moving his arm away from him; the desert sand whirls in every direction, getting into his ears, his mouth, his eyes. It’s dark, but there’s a fire in the boat, and the waves of sand make the ship sway dangerously and everything’s turning - nothing is certain, nothing but the hand in his neck, the cool metal always pressing against his forehead.

\-----

Someone’s playing the guitar.

A voice sings along with it - deep, tired, heartfelt. It sounds like a lullaby - it coils around him, cocoons him from the world like a blanket, threatens to make him drift away, and at the same time makes him feel more grounded than he has been in hours… days… months? He doesn’t know anymore.

The song makes him sad.

“I hate sunshine.”

He regrets talking immediately. The music stops. The only sound around is the gentle roar of the flames.

“I hate the sun, actually,” he blurts out. “Shiny maggot - too proud and important up there, watching our every move. I don’t trust it.”

The metallic roof looks reddish. He doesn’t know if it’s the fire or the reflection of the sand under him. Or maybe his whole world is turning red and he didn’t notice.

The chords start being plucked in a tuneless, distracted pattern.

“Close your eyes, Soldier Boy.”

And it sounds so easy… so he does.

\-----

“Drink this, pardner.”

He obliges, follows the hand on his neck and tilts his head, swallows the somewhat warm liquid that runs through his parched throat.

“It’s the last we have, buddy.”

Engineer pats his chest. The sun’s up; everything is warm, too warm, walls irradiating heat from both his sides and he doesn’t know how the man sounds so calm when it has found them, they’re burning, it is too late.

“I don’t know what to do, Solly.”

Engineer is the coolheaded one - the practical, smart one. He’s the constant, the calm in the storm, here, now, always.

Why did his voice crack like that?

“Find a way.”

Soldier has learnt to stop reaching with his arms. He taps his leg against Engineer’s side.

“You will. Find a way. Get us out.”

Engineer’s hand fists in his undershirt.

“Up and away from the goddamn sun…”

The heat makes him sluggish. He wants to sleep but he also wants to be there for Engie, _with_ Engie.

His world is uncertain right now; but there’s one thing he’s sure of.

Engineer’s presence by his side.

And that’s all he needs.

“I’ll try, Solly.” He sounds tired, but firm. Grim. “Hell if I don’t.”

\-----

He’s running, naked. His body is covered in honey.

He’s ready.

A thousand RED Heavys come cracking their knuckles, their necks, staring menacingly down at him.

He’s got his shovel and his bare arms and it’s the only thing he needs.

He roars.

He jumps over one Heavy and takes hold of his head. He twists it, snapping his neck, and the Heavy falls to the floor. Another one growls, and tries to grab him, but he’s slippery, untouchable, and he slides and slices his head with his shovel.

There are Heavys everywhere. The fun has just started.

“ _Yeeehaw!_ ”

Engineer is there too, some feet away. He’s covered in honey too, smiling proudly from ear to ear, ten sentries next to him shooting bullets and missiles at their enemies.

“I did it! Heck yeah I did it!”

He sounds proud, victorious, as he should be. They’re surviving; they’re _winning._

“We’re going home, Solly!”

Hell yeah. Home.

They will destroy these maggots and run together far away, to a place with more REDs to fight, more sentries to build, more laughter, more happiness, more clouds in the sky.

“Slim, you hear me, buddy? We’re stranded! We need help! I’ll send ya coordinates!”

They don’t need help. Just the two of them can make it. He’s sure of it.

But when he sees his team appear far away in the horizon, he can’t help but grin.

Now they’re really complete.

“We just have to resist now,” Engineer tells him.

Soldier knows they can do it.

\-----

He’s awakened by a pattering in the roof.

“I-it’s rain, Solly!” Engineer’s surprised voice reaches him. “Rain!” His laugh is music to his ears. “Where’s that goddamn bucket-”

He lets himself drift again, carried away by the rhythmic drumming and Engie’s joyful chatter.

\-----

The storm is back.

The boat sways threateningly, sand twisting, forming a typhoon that catches them and attempts to swallow them whole.

He grunts, stomach turning. Everything is cold, so cold.

He hears a voice calling him - he doesn’t know where from. The only thing he can see is sand, sand in the boat, sand outside the boat, sand flying in circles in the sky.

“No, no, no, nonono-”

Nononono, he was so close, he had been about to reach the base and give Engineer the medal he deserved for his diligent job, but now he’s engulfed by the desert itself, and he wants to reach out but his arm hurts, and there’s no one there but the voice, the desperate voice that chants in his ear something he can’t define.

“Heavy! Medic! Thank god! _Help!_ ”

He feels himself tremble, start shaking. Big hands put him on his side.

Something washes over him. His arm stops hurting. A shiver runs through his other arm, then it feels like a hundred ants are running in it, a thousand needles piercing it. His head stops hurting, his stomach stops twirling, the sand is quiet once more and he’s in peace, finally, for the first time in what feels like forever.

He blacks out.

\-----

“We’re going home, buddy.”

\-----

He wakes up in the infirmary. He’s alone.

He doesn’t know how he got there. He doesn’t understand what happened. He had been somewhere… with sand. A desert? He doesn’t remember how he got there, only that he had been there; and he wasn’t alone, was he? He was with…

“ENGIE!” he yells, and immediately regrets it. His throat hurts, dry as hell.

He remembers.

He remembers the plane, the RED-labeled bomb. The frightened pilot that escaped with the last parachute. Engineer cursing. Soldier grabbing him from his overall, dragging him, jumping with him.

The plane exploding in a hundred pieces. Falling with them.

And nothing more.

Nothing but a song, the sun, and a whirlwind of sand that almost makes him want to barf. Probably not for the first time.

And Engineer.

The infirmary’s doors open and Medic trudges inside.

“Ah, Herr Soldier, you’re awake!” He sounds oddly disappointed. “Lie back for a moment - I’ll run some tests to make sure but you’re probably ready to go.”

“Where’s Engie?” he demands. He needs to make sure he was okay.

“Ah! He’s in his workshop,” Medic tuts, disapprovingly. “He hasn’t come out since we arrived. He said he was too worked up, that he needed to occupy himself or else he was going to go mad with worry. Well,” he says to himself, “I guess I can relate to a point - although my treatments are so effective that there’s nothing I can’t fix; it _is_ silly to worry about the results-”

“Let me go, Kraut; I need to find him.”

“Wait! I still don’t know how the third kidney is going to react‒”

But he is already up, and out of the infirmary, running down the corridor and towards Engineer’s workshop.

He opens the door with a slam.

Engineer jumps from where he’s working on a gadget of some sort. He looks up, surprised, confused, dark rings under his eyes visible even with his goggles on.

And then he recognizes him.

“Solly! Oh gosh,” and he rushes towards him.

He punches him in the shoulder.

“Dagnabbit, you impossible, mulish son of a gun; why didya jump like that, there was a box of parachutes in our cargo-”

“There was no other way, grease monkey! It was time for action, we couldn’t lose precious time fiddling with boxes when the bomb could explode any minute!”

“The timer said _five minutes_ , Soldier!”

“But it exploded before that, didn’t it?”

“Because the grenade you threw at the goddamned pilot fell next to the bomb and detonated it!”

“Details, maggot.”

Engineer sighs. He deflates, and runs a palm over his face.

Engineer looks terrible. There are grease stains all over his clothes, and it looks like he hasn’t shaved in days. He looks tense, tired. He looks like he’s been through hell and back.

He remembers his promise.

“I told you.”

Engineer looks up, eyeing him quizzically.

“I told you you’d find a way to get us out, private.”

The rumble of thunder sounds in the distance.

Engineer chuckles. He bursts off laughing and laughs and laughs and laughs, his guffaws filling the workshop. He lifts up his goggles. There are tears at the corner of his weary eyes.

He dries them with the back of his hand, trying to regain his composure. He looks at him, a grin on his face.

“You did, didn’t ya?”

He puts a hand on his shoulder, smiling at him.

“I’m glad you made it, Soldier Boy.”

Engie’s smile feels like home.

\-----

“ENGINEER!”

Soldier enters his workshop in big strides, slamming the door open.

Engineer doesn’t jump anymore. He’s getting used to it.

“What d’ya need, Solly?” he asks, without looking up. After some seconds of silence, he looks up, and sees Soldier standing there, firm, in a military pose. He lowers down his wrench and walks up to him. “… ‘S there anything wrong?”

“I came to give you what you earned!” he says, and he extends his arm and opens his hand and-

And there’s a medal in his palm, made out of a bottle cap and colored with paint. There’s a cloud painted in the background, and a medical cross in the middle of it.

“Your work back in the desert was flawless, private! You helped your fellow soldier in need and managed to get us out of that awful place in one piece! You were an asset to the team and I’m proud of you! I’m glad to serve with you!”

Engineer stares at the medal.

Soldier closes his hand. He takes a step towards Engineer and grabs his overall, pins the medal in it. It shines there, proudly, as if screaming to the heavens, to the sun itself: ‘We are alive!’

Engineer swallows and looks at Soldier, who backs away and makes a salute, smiling.

“Thank you, Soldier,” he says, a bit choked, and smiles back. “I’m glad, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Medic was completely unconcerned by the whole ordeal because he knows they can't die because he stole everyone's souls. No one else knows this, unluckily for Engineer.
> 
> I must confess I just wanteed to write Engineer singing "You Are My Sunshine", however overused that trope is here, and this happened.
> 
> \-----
> 
>  **Edit #1:** Changed all the em dashes by hyphens because I found out they aren't visible on certain platforms (like for example my own phone) and I want the text to be readable on all formats. Sorry for the inconvenience.
> 
> \-----
> 
> I probably won't write more stuff for a long while - I have several finals to pass and with this one I've completed most of the old WIPs I had accumulated on my laptop. Only three remaining, and they're too long and ambicious to be published soon. Maybe my multichaptered sniperspy fic, but I want to give my fics the concentration they deserve so I'll probably continue them when I have a bit more of free time.
> 
> Well, that said, I hope you enjoy this one! See you around because I'm always lurking here or on Tumblr hehe
> 
> TF2 Tumblr: [justacoconut-tf2.tumblr.com](https://justacoconut-tf2.tumblr.com)
> 
> \-----
> 
>  **Edit #2:** When I said that everyone told me I wrote too many fever dreams I was being a bit dramatic. I know not everyone said so, and comments here are lovely and I'm really happy you liked the fic as it is ❤️


End file.
